Still drenched, another hat, Bill
Once again yesterday we got dumped on keeping the various bodies of water around our property intact. Our land is a soggy mess. I’m sure it won’t be long until the mosquitoes reorganize from the latest spraying and start their assault again. They are like the Taliban.
So when I got home last night I heard an odd noise coming from the AC vent, it sounded like it was almost chugging along. I instantly recognized the sound from the last time our AC died. It was the sound that is made when the vent below the air handler is filled with water. So I put on my HVAC repairman hat and took the cover of the air handler off. I shined a flashlight down beneath the unit and my suspicions were confirmed, it was FILLED with water. I found this odd since I had pulled the unit apart a few months ago and everything was fine at that time.
So I pulled out the shop vac and started sucking. I pulled out 6 or 7 full cannisters of water, close to 25 gallons. I dropped some bleach in the drain tray and then took the vac outside to suck out the drain line as well. The issue is caused by more shoddy work. When they installed the air handler they didn’t take care to make sure that it was angled slightly to force the drain water to the drain. Instead, it is actually slightly tilted away from the drain. My theory is the water build up could have been caused by a couple things. A couple weeks ago I put an extension on the drain pipe outlet to try to route the water away from the compressor. It’s possible that doing so could have caused just a slight amount of blockage of the flow out of the pipe, causing it to back up. I also thought that the near constant 90% humidity since Fay just created more condensation than the gimped drainage system could handle. I did install a small wood wedge under the left side of the drip tray to compensate for the angle/drainage issue. Doing so appeared to tilt the flow towards the drain like it should be. We’ll see if it works in the long run.
Last night we did some more prep for the cleaning project by pulling any furniture left in the room away from the walls. While doing so I stepped on a spot on the carpet near the outside wall that was wet. I asked Ali if she spilled anything and she said she didn’t. It was a spot that was underneath some storage containers so it was normally a covered area. No, it wasn’t pet excrement, simply wet from water. The spot is close to being aligned with one of our external hoses. I’m not sure if the cause is from the hose or maybe the drenched ground seeping up through a small crack in the foundation. I’ll have to poke around outside and take a look.
I flipped on the tv in the bedroom just in time to see Bill Clinton give his speech to the convention. I was sort of hoping to at least catch that. It was a great speech that gave a ringing endorsement to Obama. Hopefully it was enough to convince the Hilary backers to not jump ship and vote for McCain. I also heard John Kerry speak which wasn’t great. He basically attacked McCain the entire time and while he made some good points, he sort of came off as a whiner. It didn’t take me long to realize why I don’t like watching conventions. They remind me too much of Sunday morning tv church. Every few seconds the crowd interrupts with cheers and flag waving. It’s over the top cheesey. The constant shots back to the crowd were very annoying as well. I had to question the choice of subjects of the cameramen. It seemed the vast majority of the people in the crowd they focused on looked like, well, losers basically. Poor Michelle Obama was getting up and down more than an aerobic class instructor. She sort of had “scare hair” last night. The shots of Hilary and her triple chin every 15 seconds during Bill’s speech got old as well.
Last night I woke myself up as I was kicking my right leg violently. I was in the middle of a dream where I was trying to kick away a snake.
Remember my projections about plunging gas prices in coordination with the upcoming election? Just look at the gas price widget to the left. Prices have been dropping daily. It’s amazing how nice the oil companies can be in order to win political favor.